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Hundreds make strides to help fight breast cancer
By Jordan Cohen
Canfield
Heather Gollan, Tammy Sevey, Christine Sell and Dawn Henderson have two things in common: Each has suffered from breast cancer. Each is cancer-free.
The four were among more than 400 people at the Canfield Fairgrounds on Sunday morning for the annual Tri-County Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk — a 3-mile trek from the fairgrounds to the Canfield Bike Trail and downtown Canfield.
Breast-cancer survivors wore a pink sash with “Survivor” on it and a sticker showing how many years they have been cancer-free. It has been eight years for Gollan, a 43-year-old Austintown resident who organized this year’s walk.
“I was bound and determined to beat this,” said Gollan, mother of a 9-year-old boy. “Nobody else is going to raise my son.”
“You are here and you give us hope,” said WHOT-FM’s Kelly Stevens in remarks to the cheering group before it embarked on the walk.
Gollan said about 35 teams registered and at least 30 cancer survivors were among the participants. “This is strictly for awareness today,” she said.
Sevey, of East Liverpool, who has been cancer-free for five years, agreed. “It’s important to know your breasts and how they look and feel,” she said. Her daughter Kelsie, 23, seemed surprised by her mother’s candor, but the pair found another way to attract attention. They and several of their friends wore pink tutus. Pink is the symbolic color of breast-cancer awareness.
Unlike previous years when occasionally heavy rain pelted walkers, the weather cooperated. A sea of pink walked along the sunlit trail admiring the tableau of large brown cornstalks, verdant farmland and trees emblazoned with fall colors. It was a view the survivors appreciated as they willingly related their stories.
Sell, of East Liverpool, has been a breast-cancer survivor for five years and is a member of a Relay for Life team in Lisbon. She is not the first in her family to be afflicted with the disease.
“My mother died from breast cancer in 2006, and she’s the reason for our relay team,” Sell said.
Henderson, of Hermitage, Pa., walked hand in hand with her husband, Jason, along with their daughter Kyrie. Henderson, 48, said a mammogram detected her cancer and she had to undergo three surgeries. Henderson was declared cancer-free four years ago and believes her experience should be a lesson for other women.
“It’s really important to get your mammogram because [otherwise] I would have never known I had cancer,” she said. “It caught mine early enough.”
Cheerleaders from Fitch High School greeted the walkers upon their return with loud cheers and the wave. The mood was jubilant, a celebration of victory in a war not yet won.
“We will find a cure someday,” Heather Gollan said.